1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to methods and systems for utility usage monitoring and management.
2. Description of the Related Art
With serious concerns regarding global warming on the rise, civic and corporate efforts to improve energy conservation have steadily increased. Major US cities, for example, have independently vowed to reduce their emissions level to 7% below 1990 levels by 2012. New developers, perhaps in response to rising market and civic pressures, have started to adhere to standards set by the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. Finally, many corporations are initiating green corporate energy marketing campaigns and increasing green product lines wherever possible.
In response to increasing media coverage of global warming, the average consumer's desire to reduce carbon emissions is at an all-time high, with 61% of the population seeing global warming as a real concern. Unfortunately, there are no cost-effective and systematic ways today to convert this desire into a rigorous, measurable conservation effort. On one hand, typical and easy ways for individuals to conserve resources are very hard to quantify (e.g., taking shorter showers). On the other, serious conservation efforts (such as solar energy conversions) are very expensive and require significant lifestyle changes. Furthermore, when consumers do try to conserve, they are unable to see the impact of their collective efforts. This lack of information discourages conservation efforts, and may partly explain why most people rely on corporations and the government to spearhead the majority of green efforts.
Within this context, households are unfortunately becoming a growing source of CO2 emissions. Scientists believe that electricity generated by coal plants contributes to 25% of US CO2 emissions. According to 2005 figures, a remarkable 20% of electricity that is distributed to residential, commercial, or industrial endpoints is wasted. This amounts to 1.2×1013 lbs of CO2 emitted per year. And as house sizes have increased and electronic devices become more widespread, the fraction of wasted electricity attributable to the residential sector grew from 23% in 1950 to 30% in 2005.
Meanwhile, the cost of electricity has increased much faster than inflation. Nationwide, average utility bills increased by an average of 30% from 2003 to 2008, the sharpest jump since the 1970s energy crisis. This has posed severe challenges for many family budgets, and the number of households falling behind on utility payments—and of utility shutoffs—has soared.
Most of the increase in electricity cost is due to an increase in the cost of fuels. The cost of many forms of coal nearly doubled from summer 2007 to summer 2008, and the prices of natural gas (which closely tracks the price of oil) has soared in recent years. Nuclear power is expensive and requires very large investments, and also suffers from the taint of weapons programs and NIMBY-based opposition. Hydroelectric power is difficult to scale further, since most rivers that can be dammed have already been. Solar and wind energy are expensive and remain very small scale. It is therefore unlikely that any combination of the above will scale up to meet new demand within the next few years, let alone to satisfy the potential policy goal of reducing coal usage. Consequently, many of the highest-impact solutions to our energy problems will be those that allow individuals to control and reduce their electricity demand.
What is needed is a technology that can (a) help empower the average consumer to take control of his/her electricity consumption by collecting data at a sufficiently granular level to promote conservation, and (b) allow the consumer to see the cumulative quantitative impact of her/her conservation efforts in conjunction with other consumers. Furthermore, the technology should be easy to install and use, thus motivating individuals to act on their growing eco-consciousness and desire to save money. By doing so, the technology would help to reduce the free-rider problem inherent in energy usage today and decrease our overall carbon footprint.
The present invention addresses these concerns.